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Thursday, 5 December 2013

Fashion news: New innovative men's lifestyle store opens in the Short North

Editor's note: You can check out Web Smith in our What Are You Wearing feature this week. We loved his new store so much, we wanted to do a little more on it. So here it is.

Although they are young (Web Smith is 30 and Kevin Lavelle, 27), the co-founders of Mizzen+Main are already shaking things up in menswear shopping.

Their lifestyle brand, which sells American-made clothing and home goods, launched in July 2012 as an online only shop. They will unveil the next stage of their business model — a brick and mortar store — this Friday, Dec. 6, when their new 1,000-square-foot Short North store opens in the former Heyman Talent space.

In addition to the whisky that's always on tap for customers (!!!), Mizzen+Main is unique because anything purchased in the store will not leave the store. Instead, the items will ship to the customer for free in two days. Instead of racks of clothing, the store will have pieced-together, curated outfits available for perusal.

"Mizzen+Main is a truly American brand. It's a form of patriotism to me," said Smith, who previously worked in marketing for Rogue Fitness. "As we younger companies source from American manufacturers, we put pressure on the larger companies to follow suit."

The brand is also forward thinking in the clothing it designs. Its men's dress shirts, for example, are a proprietary fabric that is wrinkle free, antimicrobial and stain resistant; Mizzen+Main has two tech-forward blazer designs, including one launching in January called the Perfect Blazer that is made with a material that allows the jacket to be rolled up into a suitcase without ruining the integrity of the jacket.

Other clothing and accessories brands Mizzen+Main will carry include Allen Edmonds shoes and Heritage Handcrafted, a North Carolina company that repurposes whisky barrels into furniture. In the next few weeks, Smith said, the brand will also be the exclusive seller of Ohio State bowties by Rock Avenue, New Orleans Saints' Malcolm Jenkins' line.

"Starting as an e-commerce site was the quickest way to get our brand out with your label. We've already shipped to 47 states and 12 countries in a year and nine months of being open," Smith said. "We're excited to see what we can do with the store."

The line — with its preppy charm and modern innovation — has already gotten the attention of Saks Fifth Avenue. Mizzen+Main is set for a launch of items at the renowned retailer next year, Smith said.